1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lid lock apparatus for a glove box, which is attached to the lid of the glove box thereby to hold the closed state of the lid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as a lid lock apparatus for holding the closed state of the lid of a glove box provided at the instrument panel of a vehicle, there are a center lock system which engages the center portion of the upper end of the lid with the glove box and a side lock system in which a pair of hooks are provided at the upper portions of the left and right sides of the lid and both the hooks are engaged with the glove box to maintain the closed state of the lid. In the case where the width of the lid is relatively large, in the center lock system, when the lid is closed, the degree of unevenness or difference between the surface of the instrument panel and the surface of the lid is large at both ends due to restriction at a center of an upper end of the lid. Thus, the side lock systems in which the degree of unevenness or difference between the surface of the instrument panel and the surface of the lid is small are employed in many cases.
As the lid lock apparatus employing the side clock system, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No.Hei.5-67544, for example, discloses a technique that a pair of left and right hooks disposed at the upper portions of the both sides of a lid are coupled to each other through a link mechanism and the link mechanism is coupled to an operation lever attached to the surface of the lid, whereby when the operation lever is pulled, a pair of the left and right hooks are interlocked thereby to cancel the engagement of both the hooks with respect to the glove box.
In this manner, the lid lock apparatus of the side lock system requires the link mechanism for interlocking a pair of the left and right hooks. The hooks and the link mechanism are attached separately to the lid in the assembling processes.
However, the lid lock apparatus disclosed in the aforesaid publication is arranged in a manner that in the assembling processes, a pair of the hooks and the link mechanism for coupling both the hooks are attached within the lid, so that there arise disadvantages that the number of the assembling processes increases and the cost of a product becomes high. Further, after the assembling, it is required to perform such an adjustment for smoothly moving both the hooks, so that the number of the assembling processes further increases and the cost of product becomes further high.
Further, since the respective parts constituting the hooks and the link mechanism are delivered at every parts, there arise disadvantages that the pats are likely lost and the management of the parts becomes complicated.